1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for carrying containers, and more specifically to an apparatus for carrying a plurality of liquid filled bottles or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Often liquids, such as water and other beverages, are sold at the retail level prepackaged in bottles, jugs, or other containers. When the containers are large, such as two liter or gallon sized, the containers can be difficult to carry. Placing the containers in bags is unwieldily, and further, conventional bags are likely to break under the load from large liquid filled containers. Also, the use of bags is environmentally unsound because of the energy and materials required to manufacture the bag and the need for disposing of the bag after use.
It is known to prepackage bottles or the like in a unitary package containing more than one bottle. However, conventional methods of such prepackaging have used a disposable member such as thin plastic bands or tape. Of course, these methods have the same drawbacks as using bags. Attempts have been made to provide reusable bottle carriers as exemplified by the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,815,947, 3,784,246, 3,860,112, and 3,711,143. However, known reusable bottle carriers are formed of a plurality of interlocking sheets or plates that are complex to manufacture and assemble.